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Interviews : Mastodon – “Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be in Australia talking about it” (with Braan Dailor)

By on March 18, 2014

MastodonAtlanta natives Mastodon are set to release their sixth studio album in the summer of 2014. This mixed bag of metal genres has been pumping out heavy tunes with complex themes for the past 14 years. The band just finished touring with the Soundwave Festival in Australia and commences a tour of America, Scandinavia, Russia and parts of Europe in May of this year.

Metal Obsession: How has the festival been today?

Braan Dailor: Today’s been great. I saw Clutch, I saw Crosses, I saw Baroness, I saw Down, I saw Stiff Little Fingers and then I was watching just a little bit of Uncle Acid and then I came over to do some press.

MO: You’ve recorded all your albums previous to The Hunter around the themes of fire, earth, water & aether but you’ve stepped away from that, why did you decide to do that with this particular album?

BD: The Hunter was just fun to write, it just wasn’t that kind of record. The Hunter was more like a knee jerk reaction to ourselves, like a backlash to ourselves. We wanted to be kind of loose leaf and kind of fun. It’s still heavy and dark but we wanted it to be more fun to write and record and not be so obsessive compulsive about the minute details of how the story goes and see how that works. You can work your arse off on a story line but at the end of the day if the music sucks, it doesn’t matter. The music is the most important thing. The lyrics are important too, you want to put meaning in the lyrics.

MO: Mike Elizondo, who’s worked with Dr Dre, Eminem & 50 Cent, produced this record, how did that pairing come about?

BD: He reached out to us through our management or through our label. They gave us a short list of people that were an option and we told them people we wanted to work with. The planets kind of aligned with Mike, he came to Atlanta to meet us when he found out it was an option that we were willing to exercise. So he came and we got along. Peas and carrots! Over the next few weeks we started going back and forth.

MO: Mike has also worked with Fiona Apple & Alanis Morissette, being that he’s worked with such a vast variety of artists, what do you feel he brought to the table on The Hunter?

BD: Well when we choose a producer it’s on, it’s serious now. For us if we choose someone then it means we’re ready to go. It sets the wheels in motion. And that person puts a plan together and herds us and gets us in the room to make a record. It’s good to have someone at the helm that’s not so close to it.

MO: Your second album Leviathan is based around Moby Dick, what is it about that novel that inspired you to encompass a story about such an epic journey?

BD: Like you said it’s an incredible book and the classic tale of obsession. As I was flipping through and reading, there were so many parallels to the lives of the salty sea dogs, these dudes in this ship looking for something that may not exist. I felt like we were kind of doing the same thing. Like what are we doing out here in our big white van? [laughs] I liked it for aesthetics as well. There were so many aesthetics and parallels, and the lyrics… I was on my way back from getting married in Hawaii, I had a moment where I went, “bing”, and when I saw the guys I said, “Leviathan it is”!

MO: Mastodon has such an eclectic mix of metal genres within its wheelhouse, what influenced you to incorporate the varied elements as opposed to sticking with a single or split genre of metal?

BD: We all speak a pretty vast musical language I think. So we can go here and go there and dip into all the things that we dig.

MO: You have your sixth studio album coming out later this year; can you tell us anything about it?

BD: It’s amazing! It truly is amazing. I mean I love it so far. It’s definitely part of the snowball. It’s got the older version of ourselves that’s represented more so then the last couple of albums. And then it’s got a whole new thing.

MO: I’ve read that you grew up in a musical family, was music something you always knew you wanted to pursue or did you have a time of rebellion as some kids from artistic families do?

BD: I just had the best parents in the world. They weren’t together when I was a kid but they still were friends and stuff. My grand parents played music and my mum played music, but I always played weird stuff. I played metal, then when I was 15 I got really into Mr. Bungle and John Zorn and Buckethead and Material and Praxis and William S Burrows. Then my band was really bizarre.There was no possible way it would pay the bills ever. There was no way that drumming would pay the bills ever. I wasn’t trained so I couldn’t go the session player route. And I knew that that wouldn’t make me happy to be a session player. So I just got a shitty job, like everybody else and just played in a band that I liked and play music that I like. Maybe record it. Then things got like a little more serious once I turned like 21/22 and I started to feel like I was getting pretty good at playing. I had a voice or something, and stuff I wanted to say. Even when we started Mastodon, never in a million years would I have thought I’d be in Australia talking about it.

 

About

Amber has been a writer and photographer for 2020 BMX Mag, Reverb Street Press and 3DWorld. She has booked and managed hardcore bands and takes an interest in anything from hardcore to hair metal, particularly if it screams dirty Hollywood. Amber is also the author of a sex blog. You can follow her on Twitter Twitter or check out her blog.